Blog

Since her arrival, we’ve discovered a little bit about Pupy and the issues she has with her trunk. She’s been learning new ways to use her trunk now that she has natural elements to interact with. But, even though it isn’t at full strength, it’s obvious to everyone who is used to seeing the Asian elephant trunk movements that African elephants have very different trunk mannerisms. 

Kenya is upping the ante on the kooky African elephant affectations. Scott mentioned in a previous live streamed video that there was a clip of Kenya picking up a piece of watermelon in an incredibly unique way. You can see her gather the watermelon chunk in the curl of her trunk, deftly maneuvering it toward her mouth before placing it back on the ground. It looked at first as though she was going to suction the melon up the way Pupy does, but instead she picked it up by the small stem attached to it. African elephant trunks might look a little loopy, but they can be incredibly precise.